Take Me Away
by ReginasThief
Summary: Outlaw Queen AU: Regina Mills is a beautiful woman. Regina Mills is a math teacher. Regina Mills is a wife. But first of all, she's a human being. Her husband keeps on abusing her and she just thinks that giving up on her life is the only solution. Can Robin Locksley, the new headmaster, give her what she needs? He makes her smile. And that, for Regina Mills, is already so much.
1. Chapter 1

**I'm not sure of absolutely anything about this story. I just know that I've had this idea, I loved it and tried to put it into words. I love this plot, it's really really angsty but... what can I say, I love angst. I know I should stop publishing 93478954 long-fics, but I just can't stop my fantasy. **

**please let me know if you like it, if I should continue, even if it sucks. it's okay. I just needed to know. thank you so much :)**

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><p>The bell rang and Regina Mills took a breath of relief.<p>

It's just third period and she had still three ones left, but it was time for her launch break and she could finally dedicate some time to herself. For a quarter, at least.

"Miss Mills, the headmaster would like to meet you in his office." she heard someone knocking and then a feminine voice that woke her up from her thoughts.

"It's my launch time now, tell Mr. Locksley I'll be there in twenty minutes." she didn't know that man at all. She'd never met him, she just knew he was the new headmaster, that he'd been there for just a couple of days. But still, she'd heard many stories about him, about how _dashingly handsome _he actually was.

Probably he just wanted to introduce himself to her and Regina had no intention to waste the only free quarter she had that day with a man she barely knew.

The girl -who probably was one of the new assistants- nodded and smiled kindly at her before finally leaving.  
>Regina smiled to herself and searched for a box in her purse which contained her launch: a ham and cheese sandwich and a bottle of water. It was all she had been able to take that morning before leaving her house as quickly as possible, while tears were filling her eyes and keeping her from seeing things clearly. Her face darkened at that thought and she looked down to her phone: no calls, one new message:<p>

**Victor: ****_Good morning, babe. Sorry for last night. Have a nice day, love you._**

Even though that message was apparently sweet, Regina couldn't smile.

_Liar. Bastard._

Asking for forgiveness wasn't enough anymore and she knew it far too well.

"May I?" that knock again, followed by a voice; but this time it was warm, deep and low. Regina looked up and found her eyes completely buried in the ocean blue ones of the man standing right in front of her. _Oh, my God._

Before she could say a word or even just nod, he walked towards her and offered his hand:  
>"Mr. Locksley." he introduced himself with a smile and Regina felt her knees getting weak. She immediately dropped the sandwich she was holding in her hands back in the box and cleaned her hands against her red skirt. <em>Shit.<em>

"I'm sorry, I..." she was clumsy, just as if she had been caught doing something against the rules. "it's my launch break and I was eating..." she kept on trying to justify herself for not shaking his hand, as if her whole career depended on that, but he simply giggled and left his arm fall back to his side.

"it's okay. I knew it, I insisted to see you." his blue eyes penetrated hers for a long instant and her breath caught in her throat. Those eyes, those dimples, those thin but still so damn inviting lips, those blond hair that sligthly fell on his forehead.

_God, he's truly handsome._ Now, finally, she could understand her colleagues when they giggled and chatted in the corridors about how absolutely charming the headmaster was. He _was_ handsome. He _really_ was. And he had insisted to see _her._

"oh" she blushed lightly, looking down immediately.

"yeah, well... you're the only teacher I still had to meet in this school." he smiled at her and she swore she could feel her heart pushing against her chest as if it was begging to break free.

"oh. well, here I am." she shrugged with a sweetness she didn't think she had.

"I must say that I'm not disappointed. _At all."_ he whispered as if it was a secret that Regina had to keep, as if it was enchanted by her chocolate brown eyes and couldn't stop his mouth from telling exactly what was going on in his head.

Was he... _flirting _with her?! She felt butterflies in her stomach, the ones she used to feel when she was fifteen and had her first crush. For a moment, with him, she forgot about anything else; about how much she was suffering, about how miserable she actually was. What the hell was that man doing to her?

His eyes fell on the ring Regina was wearing on her left hand and his smile immediately dropped. She was married and he was definitely exaggerating.

He cleared his throat and smiled again, a bit uncomfortable.

"so... math, right?" his tone was gentle and kind and Regina kept on reminding herself that there wasn't anything strange in that conversation, that she didn't have to give herself false hope, because he was just the boss, trying to introduce himself to her for the first time, so he just _had _to be kind. And they were probably both married, anyway.

She had to stop feeling... _something _for that man.

"yes, right." finally she smiled too. Not a shy smile but a wide one. "it's so nice to meet you, Mr. Locksley."

"please, call me Robin." _Robin._ That was probably the sweetest but still hottest name she had ever heard in her whole life. She suddenly felt the need to pronounce it; she wanted to, she needed to hear how it sounded coming from her voice.

"and you can call me Regina."

"_Regina_." he said it like a scripture and for a brief moment she got jealous he'd gotten to say her name out loud and she didn't. It sounded just amazing coming from his deep, penetrating voice. "it's such a beautiful name."  
>They locked their eyes again, this time for quite a long minute, until he finally spoke again: "is that your lunch?" he pointed to her sandwich with his index finger and arched a perfect eyebrow, clearly perplexed.<p>

"yep."

"are you sure it'll be enough?" Regina noticed his skepticism and decided to play a little with him:

"are you judging?" she crossed her arms over her chest.

Robin looked at her for a second, as if it was trying to understand if she was serious or not, then he laughed:  
>"not at all! I just... you know, the canteen is on the second floor, it's not that far, we have an elevator!"<p>

Regina glared at him for an instant, then she burst into laughter too, loosening the grip around Robin's stomach:

"hey! You are the new guy here, not me. I know this school very well." why did it feel so natural to laugh with that man? It was like they had known each other their whole lives. What was different in him? How was he able to destroy all of her walls, even for a couple of minutes?

"it's just that I prefer staying here, alone." she shrugged and he smiled sweetly.  
>"then I think I should go." for a moment, Regina hoped she had just imagined that last sentence. She really wanted him to stay; it was the first time in a very long time she felt comfortable alone with a man in a room. She just wanted to know him better, he was so nice with her, she wanted to keep on laughing with him, carefree like she had never been.<p>

"it's been a pleasure, Miss Mills."

"Regina" she corrected him with a kind smile.  
>"Regina." and again, a shiver ran through her back. It was amazing hearing her name coming from that warm voice, she wanted him to say it over and over again, in different circumstances. It was just able to stuck into her head.<p>

"same, Robin." finally she left his name rolling off her tongue and she could almost swore she had seen him gasping for air as she did it.

His blue eyes slipped in her chocolate ones again, that long silence fell between them one more time and two shy smiles were painted on their lips. _Again. _Everything was so embarrassing, but they didn't feel the embarrassement at all.

They just stayed like that until one of them -him- swallowed hard and nodded, breaking that magic made up of looks and left her alone. _Again._

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><p>She stood still in front of her own house for a couple of minutes, in her car, her hands gripping the steering wheel and tears stuck in her chocolate brown eyes.<p>

She could do that, she was strong enough. Maybe today Victor was of good mood, maybe it wouldn't happen again; maybe this time she would spare her pillow the tears she used to cry every single night.

Regina asked herself how far she could go with that story. She was miserable, so miserable that the only thought of coming back home frightened the hell out of her. So miserable that she kept on shutting all the people she had around out of her sad bubble; she didn't have a friend or someone to talk to. She didn't even accepted the help of a psychologist.

She just wanted to be alone, hold everything she felt back until she exploded.

Sometimes she thought if she could just die, everything would be so much easier. She'd gotten close to that, several times, when, during the night, in the middle of a fight, she'd locked herself in the bathroom and grabbed the razor. She'd gripped it hard, cried as silently as she could, but never dared to touch the blade. So she'd left it fall on the floor and suppressed the millionth sigh.

_You don't even have the balls to make this stop, Mills._

She passed a hand in her hair, trying to wipe away the bad memories; she took a leap of courage and opened the door.

"oh, look who's finally home! Miss Mills." his voice was the first thing she heard. She squeezed her eyes shut, took a deep breathe and calmed herself. _You can do it._

"hi, Vic." she tried to smile but when she saw him walking towards her with a pervert smile on his face, she couldn't help but shiver. She felt his dirty hand resting on her cheek, there when he had used such violence the night before.

"how was your day, babe?" he smiled and for a second she thought she was going back in time, to seven years before, when everything was still perfect. When they were _"__madly in love"._

"good. I've had all the classes today. It was challenging, but i'm finally home. I have to check some tests, then I can finally rest." she was saying things she was sure he didn't give a damn about; things she had never told him in three years.

"interesting. I've waited for you to come home to have launch." _you waited for me because you wanted me to prepare you launch._

"I've already had launch, but I can prepare you something. What do you want to eat?" she bit her lip, damning her own self for being so nice with him after everything she'd been through because of that man. Last night, the one before, the week before; every day in the last three years.

"_you._" he buried his face in her neck and started to bit, suck, lick it. Regina felt her stomach turning upside down, an incredible sense of nausea invading her completely until she felt the vomit burning the bottom of her throat.

"Vic... I'm very tired..."

"come on, I've been waiting since this morning." it wasn't a request, but an order, and she knew it far too well. _Please. Just not now._

"Victor" she moaned as she felt his cold hands slipping under her clothes, on her hot skin.

"mmh..."  
>"Victor, I have to..." with a strength and a courage she didn't think she had, he pushed him away and ran to the bathroom, opening the door and bending over the toilet to throw up what was left of the cheese and ham sandwich she had eaten at launch. <em>Shit.<em>  
>At the thought of her launch, the memory of Robin and how he had lighted up her day for a second came back to her.<p>

"god damn it!" she heard him shouting from the kitchen, right before an incredibly loud noise. He had punched the table, hard, making it shake completely. Regina squeezed her eyes, again.

"I'm not even allowed to fuck you! Now I make you vomit?!" he walked towards her, gripping her arm, forcing her to stand up.

"Victor, please... it's just... I think I caught the flu. It's not you."

"Oh, that I know!" he shouted "it's _you. You_ are the fucking problem, Regina. You can't even satisfy me anymore!" her back was pressed hard against the cold wall and she could perfectly feel his breath on her neck. His awful, putrid breath.

"I'm... I'm sorry."

"you should thank me because I still find you attractive. You're 37, Regina, open your eyes! Who would find you even interesting if not me?!"

Perfect. Now she wasn't even decent to his eyes anymore. She was... just attractive. She was just a fancy way of satisfying his needs.

"I'm sorry. W-we... we can try again, if you want. I can make it work, just... give me a second" the only thought of having him inside of her, of feeling him thrusting and touching her deepest spots made her want to throw up again, but if that was the only way to stop all of that... she was going to do it.

"of course!" he said ironically "do you think it's easy to make it hard again?" while he said -or better, _shouted- _so, he unzipped his trousers and pulled down his boxers. Regina looked up, trying to look anywhere but at that sick situation. She felt the nausea coming back and closed her eyes.

"look at it. And think you could've had it all, hard, deep inside of you. Look at it now. Look what have you done." he ordered but she refused to obey. She kept on staring at the ceiling, praying whoever was up there that that torture would be over soon.

"_LOOK AT IT!" _Victor shouted, gripping her head and forcing her head down. Regina couldn't hold back a sigh and she damned herself for it.

"I've already told you that I'm sorry" she murmured softly, trying to hold back her tears as much as she could. But it was useless, they were already rolling down her cheeks.

"I don't give a shit about your apologies!" he left her fall against the door and there she cried, silently, as always.

Everything seemed to stop for a moment; Victor was there, a few steps away from her, passing a hand through his dark hair, trying to calm himself down. Regina was still on her feet -she didn't know how, where she found the strength to stay like that- against the wood of the door, mentally praying that she could finally be alone. For a couple of minutes, just the time to cry her soul out. Just the time she needed to explode in sighs.

"go check those fucking tests that make you feel all proud of yourself. You ruined everything." as he said so, he was about to leave, but not before he whispered _bitch_ when he got sure she was hearing him.

"Victor" she called him, her voice broken by the tears "I want to divorce."

He looked at her for a second, from the bottom to the top, completely. His eyes were serious for just a moment, then he burst into a laughter, out of nowhere, as if he was crazy. He walked to her and slapped her face, hard. Then he left.

She left her back slide down, till she was sitting on the floor. She closed the door and finally let go all the tears, all the sighs, all the screams she had tried to hold back for too long.

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><p><strong>I know. The angst. I'm sorry.<strong>

**thanks for reading! xxo**


	2. Chapter 2

**hey guys! thank you so much for all the reviews/follows/favs! i'm so impressed, really! thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm so glad you liked this story as much as I did.**

**hope you enjoy this chapter too :)**

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><p>"I found him smoking." she said firmly, while she nervously played with her fingers under the headmaster's desk.<p>

Robin was looking at her with watchful eyes, his chin on his knuckles, an arched eyebrow and a kind smile.

"mh. In the bathroom?"

"no, next to the window, in class, before the bell rang."

"oh. Well, it's a serious thing." while he said so, he riffled through his agenda, scrolling his finger down the phone numbers he had written on it until he found the one he was looking for; then he took his phone. Regina was looking at him with the corner of her eye, careful not to be noticed: he was handsome with the phone stuck between his cheek and his neck, his eyes lost somewhere undefined and that patient and kind smile always printed on his lips.

Regina wasn't expecting to see him again, not that soon anyway. But she kept on reminding herself that that was her job, it was her duty to report a student's infraction, he was the headmaster and he needed to know. There was nothing more. Just the job.

"he'll be here in a moment." he said, hanging up the phone. He buried his blue eyes in hers and his kind smile turned in a sweet one. Regina felt her heart melting in her chest, so she smiled back to him.

"I... I don't think it's necessary to suspend him." she said, trying hard to keep talking about school and nothing else. Robin looked amused:  
>"In fact I won't."<p>

"good." she looked away, not able to stand that man's blue eyes that were making her feel amazingly strange, like she hadn't been feeling for so long.

"so... it's better for me to go. I have the break now."

"cheese and ham sandwich again?" this time he left himself go to an amused giggle.

"tuna and tomato. And you should stop judging me anyway!" she laughed too. Fuck everything, she felt so good with that man. Fuck the scholastic situation, he was able to light up her never-so-darker days and she didn't want anything to hold her back from enjoying the time she spent with him fully.

"oh but, you know, you make me feel funny." he said between smiles and Regina's heart lost a beat. She found it hard to breathe and, for a second, she worried about blushing definitely too much for such a silly thing he had said.

"mr. Locksley, Mc Kluskey is here." a third voice -the same one who had interrupted her launch the day before- interrupted them. The boy walked in with a smug smile, so sure of himself that Regina felt nauseated. He was dressed in black, his hair dark and curly, his brown eyes were shining with sureness. He was some kind of familiar to her.

The woman left the three of them alone and Robin's eyes slipped out of Regina's to stay focused on the boy:  
>"you know is prohibited to smoke inside the school, don't you?"<p>

"in fact I was smoking outside."

"your math teacher told me she saw you smoking in the classroom." Mc Kluskey looked at Regina from head to toe, lingering his eyes on her cleavage, arching an eyebrow at how much it was showing. Regina felt the guy's eyes on her and she felt like a piece of meat. _Disgusting. _She looked down, trying to ignore that devastating sense of nausea that only Victor, until then, was able to cause her.

"my arm was actually _out _of the window." he chuckled, keeping on staring at her with that smug smile of his that Regina would have been more than happy to slap away from his face.

She heard Robin's voice:  
>"it's against the rules anyway. This time you'll get just an admonition, but next time you'll get suspended." he said serious, putting on his glasses to read some papers. For a second, Regina seemed to forget about Mc Kluskey's presence and she dedicated her attention to Robin: he was even more handsome with the glasses on, if that was possible. They made him look more like a professor and she loved it. <em>A lot. <em>She found herself fantasising about a man for the first time in years; years during which she had only been scared about having a naked man in front of her. But with him, oh, G_od..._ what was he doing to her? Why did she feel like he wanted to see _all_ of him? why did she feel like she wanted to _have _all of him? It was so wrong, but still, it felt so right.

She smiled when she was sure he wasn't looking.

"Mr. Locksley." the guy nodded to Robin, then he looked at Regina and winked at her: "Miss. Mills."

Robin didn't notice it but Regina did, since Mc Kluskey had made sure his eyes were buried deep in hers. She felt her stomach turning upside down, like when she was at home with Victor. She couldn't even be respected from her students, now.

The guy walked out and she followed him immediately:  
>"how dare you, Mc Kluskey?" she shouted<p>

"oh, come on, Miss Mills! Don't lie to me, I saw how you look at me during your classes, I saw the way you blush everytime I look back at you!" he got closer and caressed her arm, making his hand fall from her shoulder to her elbow. She shivered. The same horrible sensation she felt everytime Victor touched her.  
>"Mc Kluskey..."<br>"oh, please, call me Josh. And give me your number so I can call you whenever I'm bored at night." he chuckled while his hand travelled lower and lower, behind her arm, until he reached for her back. He grabbed her ass hard, making her jump on her feet. Regina reacted, this time: she stepped back and slapped him right on his face.

"how dare you?! I'll suspend you!"

He laughed at her:  
>"you don't have the balls, Miss Mills." as he said so, he ran away.<p>

"MC KLUSKEY!" she shouted in vain. She felt Robin's office's door opening and he suddenly was there, he had her back, he was ready to fight with her, fight _for _her. But maybe... this time, he was too late.

"what happened?" he asked worried.

Regina swallowed hard. It was her occasion. She could tell him everything, or, at least, just what had happened in that corridor; she could make that guy pay for treating her like a piece of meat.

She could stop being weak for a second and accept someone's help. But she didn't.

"nothing, he was just... running in the corridor." she looked down and he noticed that that light she had a few moments before in his office, had slowly started to fade away. He had to do something to light it up again, he didn't care about the rest:  
>"you know, for today, my launch break is gone and I have to go back to work. You know whose fault it is?" he said giggling, pretending to look at his watch. Regina finally looked up to him and smiled:<br>"not mine, Locksley!" she chuckled.

Yeah, there It was. That light.

"oh yes, it appears to be yours, Mills. So, I was thinking... what could you do to be forgiven?" it was crazy how she didn't feel uncomfortable with that man at all, not even for a moment. It all felt so natural, how it supposed to be in a normal relationship between a man and a woman. There was an unexplicable and bizarre complicity between the two of them, a complicity that they had built up in less than 48 hours.

"I won't work overtime, I'm telling you."

"Oh, no no, in fact I'm asking for... a longer break." his smile widened while he pronounced his invitation: "I'd like to offer you launch. And I'm not talking about that odd kind of launch that you like, made up of a sandwich and a bottle of water. I mean a real launch. Here, in my office. I'll order something from the best restaurant I know and I'll make room on my desk. Do you think you can accept my request, Miss Mills?"

Her heart was beating crazily and she couldn't do anything to stop it. She couldn't believe her ears: he had really asked her out for launch! Well... maybe not exactly _out. _It was actually _in _his office; but it didn't matter. He wanted to spend his break with her, he wanted to know her better, just as much as she wanted it too.

"yes, of course. I'd love to." she said, trying to stop her voice from getting squeaky. Robin smiled widely:  
>"so, launch in my office it is. Tomorrow at 12.30. I'm counting on it."<p>

"I won't miss it." she smiled back and, this time, her smile reached her eyes too.

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><p>Nothing and no one was going to take that beautiful smile away from her that morning. She woke up feeling absolutely great, for the first time in forever. The only thought of seeing Robin again made her eyes sparkle with joy and made the butterflies fly around her stomach.<p>

They were such wonderful sensations that she hadn't felt in a very, very long time. Sensations that she wanted to feel every single day of her life.

She kept on repeating herself that all of that was wrong. She was a married woman and probably he was married too. And even if none of them was, he was her chief. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that she didn't give a damn about all of that: she wanted to spend some time with him. And her marriage... for all she cared, her marriage was over anyway.

_You always have to bow your head, Regina. Marriage is sacred, it has to be honored. Always. No matter what will happen, you'll always have to respect the promises you made to Victor._

Her mother's words resounded in her head like a melody and, immediately, her smile faded away. She asked herself what would she think of that whole situation: would she tell her to save her marriage even if she'd told her her husband beated her up every single day? Maybe if Cora was still alive, she could have asked her what to do.

She remembered it quite well when she said to her that she was still married to her dad because it was _what good women do; _she didn't feel anything for him anymore, neither did he, they didn't even share the bed anymore, but it didn't matter. To the people, to their friends, they were just as married and in love as ever.

What mattered was to always make a good impression.

Regina knew that there was no escaping that mortal trap she kept on calling "marriage", not even if she wanted to: she had tried a million times to ask Victor for divorce, but the answer had always been the same: a slap right in her face. Maybe, one day, she would find the courage to talk to somebody, maybe for the first time in her life, she would be able to ask somebody for help. And that somebody, maybe, was the man she was going to have launch with, that morning.

She didn't know why but she knew she could trust Robin Locksley. Of course, she wasn't going to talk him _then _or anytime soon, but maybe, when it was the right time... she was going to open herself up.

_Maybe. If he's not married. If he still wants to talk to you after a single date, Mills._

"where you think you're going dressed like that?" Victor's sleepy voice coming from the bed made her jump on her feet. Usually, he didn't wake up before noon, he used to spend the rest of the day on the sofa, watching tv and doing god only knew what until she was home to prepare him meals. Jeez, she hated him so much.

"to work." she said, trying not to sound as annoyed as she actually was. She was scared of his reaction.

"on the street?" he chuckled to himself "because that's what it looks like, with that skirt." Regina looked down and for a second she asked herself if he wasn't right. Maybe she had exaggerated. She gave a quick look to the mirror and shook her head: there was nothing wrong with that red knee-length skirt she was wearing, nor with that white shirt she loved so much. Yeah, maybe she had left the first two buttons opened, and yes, her legs were naked, but she tried to convince herself that there was no particular reason named _Robin Locksley_ why she did it.Really. Not at all. It was just... hot. In school. Generally.

"I don't want the other men to stare at your legs and boobs all the time." he said, sitting on the mattress.

Regina kept her eyes stuck on the floor, trying hard not to look at him.

"there are no men in school. Only women." she lied. Maybe, that would stop his questions and allow her to leave that god damn house without being forced to change her clothes. Because he was going to ask for that, she was more than sure.

"oh, well... then I think I should come visiting you at school more often." he laughed "you know, I really need to remind myself how a real woman looks like, sometimes." Regina felt the tears pushing to get out of her eyes. She was sure she didn't give a shit anymore about what her husband thought of her; she didn't love him anymore, she would give whatever just to not see him anymore; but there was something in his words... they felt like a knife right in her heart.

"why don't you get yourself one, then?" she snapped and bit her tongue not even a second after, mentally damning herself, already tasting his slap.

"what makes you think I haven't already?" instead, he laughed; he laughed at her, at her sufferance. Moment after moment, word after word, day after day. He had taken away all the happiness from her, and he was soon to take her life too, she was sure of that.

Regina left her home without saying anything else, while all she could hear were his laughters, and she asked if what he had just said was true.

If he was cheating on her... why was she feeling so guilty for seeing a colleague she barely knew for launch? Was it about her mother's words?

_You're an idiot, Regina._

This time, she told herself, the voice in her head was right.

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><p>The lesson ended at 12.20 and she arrived at her locker at 12.25, nervous as she'd never been, trying to arrange as quickly as possible all the papers she had in her hands. There, under the register, she found a note, written on a very familiar yellow post-it. <em>To Regina. <em>Her heart started beating so fast, making her feel like one of her students with their crush. She read it and blushed lightly:

_**Waiting for you. On time. Or I'll fire you.**_

She wanted to laugh; she swore she could actually hear Robin's giggle.

God, the way he made her feel... in different circumstances, she'd say he was flirting with her, but she kept on telling herself that she shouldn't give herself false hope, her heart wouldn't be able to handle another delusion.

_Stop it, _she kept on repeating in her mind, as if she wanted to stabilize her heartbeat.

She walked, or better, she _ran_, as much as her heels allowed her, to the headmaster's office and, once she arrived, she took a long, deep breath. She could do that. She was a grown woman, she had to stop acting like a teenager with her first crush.

She knocked and opened the door with a smile that she thought she had lost years before:  
>"may I?"<p>

"Miss Mills!" Robin exclaimed looking at his watch "two minutes late. I think you should reconsider your conduct in the future." he wanted to pretend to be angry but he simply couldn't, so he burst into a laughter that Regina couldn't help but return. She was so comfortable with that man, even when he had closed the door and they remained alone... she had always been scared, since Victor had started to beat her up, of staying alone in a closed room with some guy. But Robin was... _oh_, so different.

"wine? It's the best I had at home." he handed her a wonderful glass of red wine that Regina couldn't help but appreciate. He had done all of this _for her. _

"should I think that you want me to get drunk?"

"mmh, maybe. But I'm not used to women with a ring on their finger." he pointed at her wedding ring with his index finger and there Regina's face darkened. _Shit. _She had ruined everything with her own hands, now there wasn't even a little possibility that he could find her... _what, Mills? Datable? You knew that there wasn't going to be anything between the two of you, you knew it from the beginning. _

"please, have a seat." his voice woke her up from her thoughts and made her focus on what usually was his desk. Until that moment, she hadn't noticed the way he had organized it perfectly, with a blue table cloth, two plates that contained what definitely appeared to be fantastic food, a bottle of wine and the bread basket in the middle. Everything was so intimate, and cute, and perfect.

"I brought the bread, in case you want to prepare yourself a sandwich." he made fun of her and she laughed.

During the whole launch, they talked about them, silly questions, silly answers, they were laughing like crazy idiots, they couldn't stop smiling for a second. Regina was feeling great, she won't even think about what he had told her before, it was in the past. Ok, maybe they weren't going to be more than friends, but she surely wanted that man to be a part of her life.

They chatted, he asked her how many years she had been teaching, If she liked her job; Regina asked him if he had children. He didn't.

"me and my... ex-girlfriend tried hard, years ago, but... nothing. It wasn't mean to be, probably."

"well, you're still young. Maybe you can... try again. With... with the right woman." she bit her lip as she blushed like an idiot and her eyes slipped into Robin's. _Oh, God._

"yes, maybe. With the right one." he repeated, as if he was charmed by her eyes. A shiver ran through both of their backs, completely shaking them, forcing them to look away.

Robin cleared his throat and asked his next question:  
>"what about you? Do you... have children?"<br>Regina shivered again, but this time it wasn't a pleasant shiver. She remembered it perfectly, because that was the exact reason her marriage had turned to be so miserable, three years before. She and Victor had tried so hard to have their own child, but it didn't work out. He kept on blaming her, saying he was absolutely healthy and she wasn't; so he forced her to make some blood tests and... he was right. She couldn't have children. And there it all started; the first fights, the first slaps, the first tears.

"no, I... I don't." her face darkened but this time he noticed it and put her hand over hers.

"hey... I didn't mean to upset you. I'm so sorry." Regina didn't wince at his sudden touch. It was all so natural between them, all so comfortable. She felt his warm hand on hers, cold as ice, and she smiled at him. Like she had never smiled to anyone.

"it's okay. It's just... you know, bad memories. That's it." he only smiled back when he had made sure she still had the spark in her eyes that she had had during the whole launch.

"So..." he exclaimed, removing his hand from hers to stand up. Regina couldn't deny she was sorry for that: she was already missing the contact between their skins. "I brought the dessert too, Miss Mills. I won't let you go away thinking that I'm horrible at organizing launches."

"I never thought that. Not even for a second. Everything was delicious." she stood up too, helping him packing the dishes to bring them back home.

"I'm assuming this will be our first and last launch together, won't it?" she watched him biting his lower lip, hesitating. Robin didn't want to sound so eager to see her, most of all because she was a married woman and he wasn't used to flirt with married women. But there was something so different with her; something that simply felt so right.

"absolutely not. Next time, it's on me. But in a real restaurant." Regina giggled.

"oh no, milady. I won't allow you to pay me launch, ever."

_Milady. _While her heart kept on looking for a way to jump out of her chest, Regina took a deep breath:

"it would be a pleasure, Robin, really. I have to return the favor. Please, just... tell me when you're available." _Oh, God._ She couldn't believe she had actually said it. The only thought of seeing him again, that _he _actually wanted to see her again, made her feel a grip around her throat. Yes. It was really happening. "if you want, you can give me your number, so maybe we can..." she constantly bit her bottom lip, nervously, as if she was scared of the words that could come out of her mouth.

_Actual five-years-old, Mills._

"absolutely." he replied with a smile that was, at the same time, able to calm her down and to make her heart beat faster. She loved that man's smile, quite a lot.

Robin bent over his desk to write his number on one of his yellow post-it's, making her smile, then he handed it to her. Regina took a moment to focus on the long fingers that were holding the piece of paper: she asked herself how they would feel against her skin. They would be delicate, a delicacy that she didn't know anymore, they would caress every single inch of her body, healing every wound, filling all the gaps.

_Stop it, Mills._

She shook her head and took the post-it: "thanks."

"thank _you_ for this wonderful hour. I hope I finally found at least one friend in this school!" he giggled and Regina tried to convince her heart that the only reason he kept on considering her _a friend_ was because of that goddamn wedding ring that she kept on wearing. If only there wasn't Victor...

"my pleasure." and she smiled.


	3. Chapter 3

**hello everyone! this chapter is a little bit shorter than the previous one, but I needed to post before the holidays because I realised that I didn't wish you a happy xmas! oh gosh, I'm a horrible, horrible person :( I'm so sorry! Merry Christmas and happy new year everyone! Hope you have a good time with the people you love :)**

**thanks for all the follows/favs & review, they really mean a lot to me.**

**hope you enjoy this chapter too!**

**WARNING: STRONG CONTENT. **

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><p>It took her days, several dates, before Regina could finally, completely open up her heart to Robin. One day, while they were having launch together in a restaurant across the town, where no one could ever reach them -and Regina was feeling terribly reassured by that-, she decided to talk to him about her marriage:<br>"things with Victor aren't... aren't going well. From quite some time." she confessed, taking a sip of wine from her glass. Robin was surprised by that statement, but he decided not to say anything and keep on listening carefully at every single word she was saying:  
>"we, just like you and you ex-girlfriend, tried to have a baby. Victor wanted it more than anything, and I wanted it too, really. We were so in love, even after four years of marriage..." she couldn't help but smile at the old, good times. "we wanted to have our own family, with our kids, you know. We tried, and tried, and tried, until the thing became vital for Victor. To him, it was much more important than our marriage, than <em>us<em>. We had sex so many times a day, even when I didn't want to, he..." she bit her lip. Maybe she shouldn't continue. If she had talked with someone, with _Robin_, about how Victor forced her to have sex with him, even when she was tired, even when she was back from a very busy day and she was exhausted... it didn't matter how many tears were falling down her cheeks while they made it, he had a goal and he wanted to reach it. No matter what.

She had never told anybody how much she had suffered during that period, and then she was about to do it, with Robin. Her heartbeat accelerated as she continued: "he forced me. Until one day I suggested to stop. There he pushed me to do some blood tests, to find out what the real problem was. I..." a tear fell on the table-cloth and there, Regina Mills realized she had been crying the whole time. _Shit. _"_I_ was the problem. I can't have children, Robin. I can't." she quickly grabbed her napkin and dried as many tears as she could, until he stopped her by putting his hand on hers, with a delicacy that Regina didn't know anymore. He pulled her chair close to his, took the napkin from her hands and started to wipe away every single tear, to calm every single sigh, until she felt ready to talk again: "he never looked at me the same way since he found out about it. He kept on telling me that a woman who can't have children is not a real woman." another tear escaped from her control, a tear for all the slaps, all the screams she had refused to tell him about. _One step at a time, _she told to herself.

"I begged him to divorce me, to find a woman who could give him what he wanted the most, since I couldn't. He refused, he told me that marriage is sacred and it has to be honored, no matter what. And if I wanted to preserve my dignity I had to remain his wife. He still doesn't want to divorce me, even though I see how he looks at me in the eyes everytime. Like I ruined his whole life." her mother had always liked Victor and now, listening to her own words, Regina could see why: both of them were convinced that marriage constrained two people for the eternity, no matter what happened between the two of them. No matter if love got substituted by sadness and pain, and tears.

"Regina, you know you can legally obtain the divorce anyway, right?"

"I know! I know but..." _I'm afraight he might kill me _"I have faith. Maybe he will change, maybe he'll be the Victor I fell in love with again, the Victor I married seven years ago."

Robin immediately took his hand away from hers and stopped drying her tears:  
>"are you... are you still in love with him?" it was a simple and legitimate question, to which she should have answered "no". Because it was the truth, it was what she had wanted to shout at him for weeks. But, instead, she replied a simple "yes", because it was what was best for everyone. If she had told him she didn't love Victor anymore, she would have encouraged him; she would have made him think that he could build something with her, something she died to build. But she was scared to put him in such danger, because God only knew what Victor was capable of if he eventually found out.<p>

"oh." Robin replied simply, pulling away. "well you... you could try with marriage counseling." there was something different in his voice and his behavior, something she herself had caused by telling a simple, brief lie.

Now what? Had she ruined everything they had? Would they stay friends or not? She would prefer dying rather than staying away from that man.

"yeah. We could. But I don't want to talk about me anymore. Let's talk about you, shall we?"  
>He smiled at her, but his smile didn't reach his eyes as it usually did. It was rather that kind and elusive smile that he was used to give to everyone else.<p>

_You're an idiot, Regina._

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><p>That night, Regina couldn't sleep. It'd been three days since their last launch together and Robin didn't even texted her anymore. It was unusual since, since they'd started seeing each other, not a day passed by without a text from one of them, even just to say "hello". Regina knew she had fucked everything up; she had known it since she had pronounced that "no", since she had seen him pulling away, physically and metaphorically.<p>

He had left her with a simple "see you tomorrow", but the day after they didn't see each other. Nor the one after. Regina had thought about texting him, even just to ask how he was, how he _really_ was; but something had stopped her from doing it. That night, however, something changed: she was in her bed, she kept on staring at the ceiling and thinking of him, of how much she missed him in her life; his laugh, his deep blue eyes looking straight into her soul. She turned to the bedside table and looked at the clock: 2 AM. She took her phone and opened the conversation with Robin: _**"**__**miss you"**_ she wrote and stared at the screen for a couple of seconds. Nah, too romantic. It surely didn't suit the situation. She cancelled it. _**"**__**miss us." **_this time she smiled proudly to herself. Yes, it was exactly what she wanted to tell him; it was the pure and simple truth.

She sent it without a second thought and smiled, thinking of him reading it the morning after, right after opening his wonderful blue eyes.

_Damn_, she wondered how he looked like in the early morning; what did he wear to sleep? What if..._oh, god_, what if he slept shirtless? She shook her head and blocked her phone, smiling as she put it back on the bedside table. She thought she could finally sleep peacefully.

She was wrong.

"what the hell were you doing?" Victor's voice, not sleepy at all as it usually was, made her shiver. _Oh, shit. Shit, shit, shit._

"nothing, I just... wanted to know what time it was." she tried to lie, hoping that the darkness of the room could help her hiding the fear in her eyes.

"oh, really?!" he stretched his arm to her side of the bed and took the phone. He unlocked it and she damned herself for not protecting it with a passcode. The first thing he saw was the conversation with Robin. He scrolled past the old messages and read some of them: _"__thanks for the wonderful time"_, _"__I wanna see you again, tomorrow?"_ and _"__we should do it again. Soon."_

"what the fuck does that mean, Regina?!" he exclaimed, trying to stay calm as much as he could.

"nothing." she ripped her phone from him with a courage she didn't think she had; a courage that only made him angrier: he grabbed her wrists and pushed them hard against the matress:  
>"who's that man, Regina? Who's that... Robin?" he ordered her to answer and Regina swallowed hard.<p>

"the new headmaster. We... we went out for launch a couple of times. But it's just the job, Victor, really!" he shot her up with a slap right in her face, succeded by one of her sighs.

"yeah, of course, the job! Who the fuck do you think I am?!" he climbed on top of her; she felt him against her stomach. _Hard. _That whole situation _aroused _him. How could he be such a pervert psychopath?

Her stomach hurt and she was nauseated at the only thought of _him_.

"you left him fuck you, didn't you?"

"No!" another slap. Regina squealed in pain: "I swear to you, Victor, he never touched me!"

"I don't believe you!" he shouted, pulling down her panties. Her head was spinning as she prayed: _oh no. Please no. Not again. Please._

For a second she thought that it was all just a dream, but when she felt his disgusting hand slipping into her panties, she realized it wasn't:  
>"did he touch you like that?" Regina was cold as ice and dry as the desert, but he didn't care at all: he pushed two fingers in her anyway, making her arch her back in pain. "yeah, he did that too, didn't he?!"<p>

"Victor, please, stop. Stop!" she screamed through the tears that were inevitably falling down her cheeks, reaching for the pillow, making it just as wet as her eyes. Victor was laughing crazily while he insulted her, while he treated her like a piece of trash.

Regina watched him getting harder and harder at every move he made and that made her cry even more, if that was possible.

_Please, please God, make him stop. Please, _she mentally prayed, closing her eyes.

"STOP CRYING!" she heard him shouting.

"p-please... stop..."

"stop? Is that what you told him? To stop? Oh no! You wanted more. A whore like you always wants more, and more, and more." he laughed as he took off his boxers. Regina coughed, then she sighed again. "I told you to stop crying!"

"I'm... I'm sorry. I can't."

Victor liked to beat her up, it turned him on crazily, but the tears and the sighs... they were definitely a turn off for him. Maybe something from the honorable man she had married was still left in him.

"stop crying, or I'll make you!" he repeated.

Regina didn't know what to do. She couldn't stop, not even if she tried to. So she prayed, she prayed unstoppably that whoever was up there, watching over her, could take her life right then. She just wanted to die, before she could live the millionth torture.

"damn it, Regina!" that scream of his was the last thing she heard before she felt his hands closing around her delicate neck. And they tightened more, and more, and more, until she couldn't catch her breath anymore. She choked, but at least she wasn't crying anymore. Victor smiled and tightened his grip even more, while he thrusted all of himself in her.

It hurt, it hurt like hell, everywhere, every part of her, inside and out. She was sure she was about to die, she could feel the life leave her, and maybe, a part of her was happy about that: no more sufferance, no more tears, no more Victor. No more Robin. Oh, Robin... in that exact moment she swore to herself that, if she was ever going to survive that night, she was going to call him, she was going to confess him everything, every single, nasty detail. She was even going to tell him about the feelings she had been hiding from him since the moment she first saw him. About how she fell in love with his smile, with his eyes, with his simple but still so delicate gestures. She was going to ask him to protect her, to hold her tight to himself, as she should have done before.

_It's too late._

Regina left go one last tear as she felt him emptying himself in her. Finally the grip around her neck started to loosen and she could breathe again, even though she still found it hard. She saw Victor's satisfied smile as she felt him slipping out of her body, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

She felt him falling back to his side of the bed and she stood still, frozen, until she finally felt his regular breath: he had fallen asleep.

She cried every tear she hadn't cried before, every sigh she had to hold back, then she took her phone again and, this time, she composed Robin's phone number.

Five seconds, ten seconds, fifteen seconds.

It was 3 AM, he wasn't going to answer. There wasn't a chance. However...

"Regina! What the hell...?! it's 3 AM!" his voice. Oh, God, his voice. It felt like coming home after years. Jesus, she had missed it so much, she had missed _him _too much.

"I-I know, I'm sorry..." she tried to sound calm, while her voice couldn't do anything but tremble, still in shock "I-I..." _hung up the phone, Mills, you're being ridiculous. What you think you're doing? Victor is sleeping two inches away from you, he's gonna kill you this time. _"can you... can you come pick me up? At my place?"

"now?" he was confused as fuck, and sleepy, and probably angry, but his voice was still able to reassure her like nothing else in the world.

"yes please, it's important."

For a couple of seconds, she heard nothing coming from his side of the phone and she thought she had lost him for good. Then she heard him whispering:  
>"sure. What's your address?"<p>

Maybe, it was worth trying to live the life she dreamed of, rather than dying living the one she had.

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><p>When Robin arrived with his car, he found her sitting in her porch, waiting for him with her purse and a cigarette in her hand. When she saw him, she immediately ran to him, as if he was her salvation. <em>He was.<em>

"I didn't know you smoked." he commented as she walked in, as if he had seen her not even an hour before. As if it was all natural.

"I don't. It was just... a one-time-thing, I guess?" she shrugged "thanks for coming." she throw the cigarette out of the window.

Robin stood still for a couple of seconds, just looking at her: she had a long wool scarf around her neck, even though it was a hot september night. Her eyes were red, full of tears, and her dark hair were completely messed up. Something was happening to that woman, something so serious that it pushed her to call him in the middle of the night.

"Regina... I'm not leaving until you tell me what's going on." he turned the car off and looked straight into her chocolate brown eyes.

"Robin..."

"No! I deserve an explanation. I mean, you call me at 3 AM, asking me to pick you up at your place while your husband is sleeping, like I am your dirty little secret. I come and I found you... like that!" she pointed at the complete mess that she actually was. "please, tell me what's going on."

Regina looked down and held back the millionth tear. He was right. She needed to tell him everything. He _deserved _to know everything.

"I'll tell you, but first we need to go far from here."

"Regina..."

"Robin." this time, she was the one to interrupt, burying her begging eyes right into his deep, blue ones: "please, _take me away._"


	4. Chapter 4

**guys, I'm so sorry this chapter took me so long, but the school has started again and... ugh. hope you like it. as always, excuse me for all the mistakes, english is not my first language and I don't have a beta (lookin for one!) so... yeah :) **

**enjoy!**

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><p>Robin drove for several miles, Regina didn't ask him once where they were going; she didn't care. It was, for sure, a place where Victor could never reach her and that was enough.<p>

She didn't dare to look at Robin, not even for a moment. She was afraid to meet his eyes that, instead, were constantly searching for hers. Her head rested on her knuckles as she looked out of the window. Sometimes she searched for his reflection in the glass and stopped to admire his figure. Her guardian angel. The one who had finally taken her away from that monster.

She had been so brave to go away, God only knew how much, but without him, without _Robin,_ she surely wouldn've been able to do such.

She heard him turning off the car and she finally turned to face him:  
>"where are we?" she murmured<p>

"at the beach."

_What? _The nearest beach was... who knew how many miles away from her house! She smiled, spontaneously. God, how could that man always be so damn wonderful?

Regina got out of the car and, immediately, the salty air filled her lungs. She took off her shoes and let the sand tickling her feet, then she looked at Robin: he had just done the same.

"you wanna give me your scarf?" he asked, giving her a kind smile. That same smile she had missed more than anything, in the past days.

"no, I'm fine, thanks."

He nodded, without saying anything else; she was going to talk first, over time, when she would feel at ease. They walked by the sea without saying a word, until Robin, tired of the insufferable silence that had fell between the two of them, tried to make her laugh by dipping his feet in the water, shivering like a wet chick as it was cold.

"you're crazy, Locksley!" she found herself laughing, out of nowhere, at the sight of his already-wet-to-the-knee trousers. He rolled them up, joining Regina in her laughter:

"the water is... a bit cold." he commented. She laughed again.

God, she _was laughing._ After all she had been through in the past three years and, particularly, that night, she was laughing. How could that man make her feel so terribly good? She wanted to know.

"mh, really?" she dipped a foot in the water too and immediately pulled it out, shivering "yeah, well, let's just say that _a bit _is an euphemism."

She left herself fall on the sand, followed by Robin. He saw her shivering again and took off his leather jacket:

"here, take it."

"oh" she smiled tenderly "it's not necessary!"

"I insist, you're cold and..."  
>"Robin, really, it's not..."<p>

"you're shivering..."

"I said no!" she exclaimed, all of a sudden, making him jump on his seat.

"ok" he murmured, staring at the sand underneath his arse. _Damn it, Locksley. _He didn't say anything, he just stood still, hearing the long, deep breathe that she took:  
>"I'm so sorry, I... I don't know what came over me, I just..." <em>yes, you know it<em>, the goddamn voice inside her head kept on repeating. Maybe this time, she had to listen to it.

"it's nothing." he replied, but she felt guilty anyway. The last thing she wanted was to hurt him after all he had done for her; after all he had started to _mean _for her.

They stood silent for a couple of minutes, minutes that looked like hours, then she took his hand, smiling sweetly. Like she had never smiled to anyone:

"I would love to lay down with you a little and tell you what happened." she said in a voice not at all insecure, determined and sweet at the same time. Robin returned her smile:  
>"I would love to hear it."<p>

He laid down first, stretched out an arm and invited her to lay down on it, so that he could hold her in a tender embrace. It took a while to Regina to get used to the contact between their bodies, but she didn't say anything. She didn't let him understand how much she was still suffering.

"are you comfortable?" he asked, making her smile even more.

"very much. Would you want to cover us with your jacket?" she looked like a child and Robin couldn't say no. He smiled at her lovingly and covered her body carefully, as if he was taking care of an actual baby, then he laid back next to her.

It was still dark, they were lighted only by the moon and the stars, but they didn't care; they still managed to look into each other's eyes.

"Victor and I... we discussed." _oh come on! Be honest for once. _"three years ago. We started discussing three years ago." she corrected herself and Robin gave her a puzzled look. "I haven't been completely honest with you the other day; since we found out that I can't have children, Victor hasn't treated me the same way. He used... strong words with me, as a start. Then, slowly, the violence became physical." she saw him widening his eyes and she couldn't tell if it was because he was angry or shocked, or confused. Maybe the three of them.

"he..."

"he started beating me up. First only on my arms, but then..." a tear ran down her cheek "even on my face. He said it was me who pushed him to do that, because I was an useless woman and he regretted marrying me." a sigh shook her and Robin wanted to hug her tight, but, right then, he noticed that something was keeping him from doing it: fear. Pure and simple. It was as if he had just found himself touching the most delicate crystal in the world, so fragile that even a touch could break it into a million pieces.

"I didn't say anything, ever, to anyone. I was so afraid that they wouldn't believe me, I... I don't know. Victor was so kind when there was someone else with us, maybe... maybe they wouldn't believe me. Not to mention how scared I was that he could kill me." she kept on talking but Robin noticed that she wasn't looking into his eyes anymore: she was looking down, concentrated on the way his dark-blue t-shirt collided with her white tank top, his abs against her breasts and, for a second, she felt naked in front of him.

"tonight he came so close." it was then that she finally removed the heavy woolen scarf from around her neck and threw it away, behind herself. It was dark, but he could perfectly notice the purple signs of Victor's strong hands as they had closed around her fragile neck.

"God..." yes, to Robin, that was the right moment to invoke God. What that woman had felt, every pain, it was as if he was feeling it on his own skin, all together. He wanted to touch those signs, as if he wanted to cure them with his fingertips, with his caresses. There, where there had been so much pain.

He didn't. He stood still, like paralyzed.

"don't... don't feel obliged to go on, if you don't want to."

"no, please! I want to. I want to tell you everything. I want you to know every part of me, even the darkest." saying this, she began to tell him everything that had happened that night. Every detail, every emotion, every gesture.

"I called you because I have no one else." she concluded, finally finding the courage to create a contact: she rested her delicate fingers on his face, brushing his beard, touching his skin where she had never done it.

"I'll kill him." she felt his teeth clenching against her hand and suddenly widened her big, brown eyes:

"no, please, Robin! Don't do that, don't leave me."

"Regina, that bastard deserves to pay! And I'm not talking about a couple of years in prison, I want to kill him, I want him to feel the same exact things he made _you _feel!"  
>She had had that desire too, trying to deny it to herself and to Robin would've been stupid. But, in that moment, she didn't care about Victor; she felt as if, by saying everything to the handsome man right in front of her, she had erased him from her life. Once and for all. As if she had definitely closed that horrible chapter of her life and she was ready to start a new one. Not then, not in that moment, but she would. With that man.<p>

She was sure of that.

"hold me. Hold me in your arms. This will hurt him more than anything else, trust me. Just... hold me." her eyes were buried in his blue ones and Robin couldn't help but notice the gleam of supplication that was inside of them. He nodded imperceptibly and gently wrapped his arms around her. He was so afraid to hurt her in some way... he absolutely didn't want to risk it, so he left her guiding him: he felt her making herself comfortable against his chest, burying her face in his abs, her ear so close to his heart she could feel it beating. Only then he finally managed to smile again: she was the most beautiful angel he had ever seen and, right then, she was in his arms.  
>Regina was feeling so incredibly protected... nothing could scare her at that moment; she was in the arms of the only man she trusted in the whole world, she wouldn't be afraid anymore.<p>

They stayed in that position for quite a long time, without saying a word. It seemed like they were sleeping but they both knew they weren't.

Robin was the first one to see the light of the sun, because Regina had her eyes closed and the head still buried in his chest, while his eyes were widely opened, aimed to develop god-only-knew what thought. His lips pressed against her forehead:  
>"look." he whispered around 5 AM. It had been exactly an hour and three quarters, but to Regina it looked like five minutes since he had wrapped his arms around her.<p>

He gently pulled away and sat up, followed by her who joined him moments later. They both looked at the sun rising on the other side of the street, in the hills. They smiled like curious children who were seeing the world for the first time, then Regina looked at him.

God, those eyes were so deep, Robin swore he could spend every second of his life buried deep into them.

"it's beautiful." she breathed, unable to help herself from staring at his lips. Damn, she wanted to kiss him; she wanted to kiss him right there, right then. She wanted him to hold her like he had done before, just with their lips finally joined. She wanted him to kiss her back, feel his body against hers, make love to him. There, on that beach. F_uck everything._

But, perhaps, it was too early. For both of them.

"yeah, definitely." Robin whispered and, for a second, Regina thought he was answering to the questions she had secretly made in her mind.

They remained there, staring at each other for a couple of seconds more, without having a single clue what to do. Both with a mad desire of kissing each other, both too damn scared to try.

"you want me to..." Robin began, definitely breaking that sort of spell they had created around themselves "you want me to drive you to the police?"

He saw her flinching for a moment, as if she had remembered of Victor only then.

"I... I don't think it's a good idea."

Robin wanted to protest, to tell her that it was the right thing to do, the first one to start a new life; then he realized that that woman had probably been told what to do for far too long, so he didn't say anything.

"ok. So... where do you want to go?" he smiled and she thought about it for a second, taking a bit of sand in her hands, playing with it like a baby.

"mmh... can't we just stay here? Say... forever?" she looked at his with those sparkling brown eyes of hers, to which she knew he couldn't resist, and made him laugh:

"oh, of course milady. We can stay here all the time you want, but I don't think we'll be alone for much longer..." he pointed to an old man with a dog who had started to walk along the shore. Regina rolled her eyes and sighed:  
>"I don't understand what they're doing here at five in the morning." yes, she definitely looked like a child.<p>

Robin laughed heartily: "that's probably the same thing they think of us." he said, brushing her nose with his index finger, just to see her curling it and laughing again. My God, he just wanted to see her like that for the rest of his life.

He wanted to kiss her but he didn't tell her. None of them said anything, until she took his hand and interlocked her fingers with his:  
>"I want to go to the police and report Victor." she said serious, without looking into his eyes. Instead, she looked at their joined hands.<p>

"it's a really brave gesture, Regina, I really admire you for-"

"at one simple condition." she buried her eyes into his and smiled sweetly: "you will stay next to me."

He returned her smile and brought the hand she had joined with his on her face, gently, making sure she understood, on every instant, that all he wanted to do was to love her. With every gesture.

"you don't even have to ask, Regina, of course I'll be with you. As long as you want me to." she felt his thumb drawing circles all over her cheek and smiled at the sweetness he was treating her with. It was all she had asked for, all she wanted.

"thank you, Robin. For everything. And excuse me if I called you at 2 AM, if I... kept you up all night, I-"

"hey, ssh... you're an extremely brave and strong woman, Regina Mills. The least I could do was staying next to you." he brought his face close to her and Regina gasped at the sudden proximity. She _felt_ his lips so close to hers, she wanted them, they were drawing her.

She couldn't help but feel a bit of disappointed as he kissed her forehead. As if she was... a simple friend.

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><p>They left the police station only at two in the afternoon. The agents had made sure they had every picture of the marks around Regina's neck, they had collected her deposition and assured her that Victor was going to be arrested by the end of the day.<br>Regina had cried when she'd heard that last sentence, but she couldn't tell if it was sadness or relief. Maybe one part of her, a small one, still wanted good things for Victor. But that man... he wasn't Victor anymore. He wasn't the man she had married; instead there was a monster that she could hardly recognize.

Robin noticed how silent she had been for the whole time and got worried; he smiled and took her hand, caressing it gently, circumscribing circles on its back:

"hey..." he whispered, looking at her for an instant, distracting from the road.

"hey." she returned his smile, but there wasn't anything similar to the ones she had made him the morning before on the beach. That smile didn't reach her brown eyes.

"are you okay?"

"no." she admitted, biting her lower lip. She felt so incredibly safe that she wanted to open herself up with that man; he had always been there for her when she needed someone. He had been the only one.

"you want to... talk about it?" he clenched both of his hands on the steering wheel, as if he wanted to keep himself from stopping the car and hugging her tight.

"perhaps in front of a sandwich, I'm starving." a slight smile curved her lips.

"of course. My treat. Where do you want to go?"

"no, I... I want to be alone." she shrugged sweetly but he misunderstood: she saw his face darkening and she immediately put her hand back on his "with you. I want to be alone _with you._" she blushed like a tomato as she realized what she had just said. "I-I mean..."

"don't worry. I understand." despite the fact that his heart was beating wildly in his chest, Robin managed to smile like nothing had happened. That phrase had struck him, had deceived him for a long instant, he could not deny it. "but if we go at my place, I won't ever let you eat a sandwich. You deserve so much better, Regina Mills. What about... spaghetti bolognese?"

Regina smiled and unconsciously licked her lips at the thought. When would she stop looking like a baby? He smiled.

"oh, it looks great, but I don't want to bother you... you've already done so much for me, I-"

"but I didn't say I'll do it all by myself! You're gonna help me. I intend to make homemade pasta, miss Mills."

She laughed without any control, letting herself go for a second, then she realized that he was serious:

"oh my god! And what if I refuse? Are you going to fire me, chief?"

"no. I say worst: I'll leave you starving."

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><p>Before arriving to his house, they went to the supermarket to buy the ingredients for a good launch. Regina smiled serene while she pushed the shopping cart next to Robin, who was choosing a good wine. They joked everytime they could, they smiled to each other and he couldn't help but appreciate how truly beautiful that woman was. Everytime she looked away, his eyes wandered down her body and he smiled. He smiled because she was perfect, in every single detail. He smiled because, in spite of all the horrible things she had been through, she managed to smile. In spite of <em>everything<em>, that angel managed to smile.

When they arrived home, Robin made her put all the things they'd bought on the kitchen table and they started to unpack the ingredients.

"where do you keep the containers? I would like to start preparing the mixture for the dough."

"right there." he pointed to the lower part of his huge belief and watched as she bent to take what she needed. He bit his lower lip so hard he almost made it bleed. _Goddamn it, you have to stop._ Those tight, dark jeans Regina was wearing, highlighted her butt perfectly and were seriously testing Robin's self-control. He had to mentally slap himself a couple of times and repeat in his mind that she wasn't the kind of woman he could spend up to two nights and then give her up with a futile excuse -not that he was used to that sort of thing, but still. That woman deserved so much more, she deserved someone who could take care of her, always. Someone who was going to be there for her no matter what, someone who didn't think of her as if she was a sex-toy. She deserved to be loved and he... he couldn't be the man she needed. He was _just a close friend._

"perfect. So, how many eggs do I start breaking?" for the millionth time that day, she looked like a baby and Robin couldn't help but smile. He pulled out of the box the exact number of eggs she needed to prepare the dough, then he started to prepare the bolognese sauce. While they were busy with their jobs, the only noise they could hear were the ones of the spoons colliding with pots; until Regina, tired of that silence, started to sing.

"_I don't know where you're going but do you got a room for one more troubled soul?_" Robin heard her and giggled softly, careful not to be seen. He absolutely didn't want her to stop, he had never seen her like that, completely carefree. She was there, handling the dough, rolling it into flour from time to time, while she sang a song that he thought was from the _Fall Out Boys. _Yeah, he had heard it once before on the radio! It was certainly _Alone Together. _

"_say yeah!" _she exclaimed, raising one hand in the air, as if she was at a concert. Robin's giggle became slightly more audible but she still didn't notice "_and let's be alone together! We can stay young forever. Scream it from the top of your lungs, lu-lungs, say yeah!_" again, she raised her hand, but thim time it was covered with flour, so she dropped a bit over her head, in her hair. This time, Robin literally burst into a laughter and Regina realized she was laughing too only when she turned to look at him:  
>"it's been a while since I felt this way. It's been ages since I sang!" she said happily, the widest of smiles on her face "<em>this is the road to ruin, and we're startin' at the end!" <em>she took a bit of flour in her hand and threw it at him with nonchalance, ignoring the guilt that came over her as soon as his dark blue shirt started to turn to white. He opened his mouth, pretending to be angry, then she dipped his hand in the flour and started tickling her, covering her tank top and most of her arms with white.

They started laughing like idiots, chasing each other, running all over the kitchen. Regina threw a piece of dough to him but he promptly picked it up and threw it back at her, hitting her on the shoulder. She tried to catch his hands and he seemed to surrender, except that he was planning to reverse the situation. And that's what he did: in less than a second, Regina found herself trapped between the cold marble of the kitchen and Robin's warm body.

"Miss Mills, I can't accept this behavior, you know that, right? You disrespected your chief..." his voice was involuntarily deep and it managed to penetrate in Regina's mind easily, driving her completely crazy. _Oh, God._

"mmh, really?" she pretended not to understand, tilting her head on the side.

"yeah. I'll have to take measures..." he wanted to keep on joking, but Robin couldn't help himself from noticing the bruises on her neck that that bastard had left. They had faded away at least a bit, but they still had to hurt, judging by the purple color that they still had.

She saw his face darkening and immediately dropped her smile:  
>"stop it." she said serious, looking down for a brief moment.<p>

"w-what?"

"I don't want you to look at me like that anymore. As if I was sick or God only knows what else. Robin, stop. I don't want to be pitied anymore." she threw the cloth on the table and walked away, leaving him there alone, speechless. Like an idiot.


	5. Chapter 5

**hello everyone! this is it. as always, I'm so sorry for all the mistakes and also thank you for all the follows/reviews/favs, they mean a lot :) enjoy this chapter! xx**

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><p>They stayed in silence during all the lunch. But it wasn't the cheerful silence he was getting used to, the kind of one he could turn to look at her and find her smiling; it was a heavy silence, which neither of them knew how to end. He dropped his fork on the plate in a thud, then looked at her and took a deep breath, decided to start a serious conversation:<p>

"I've never looked at you that way, ever, and I never will. What I have for you is a huge sense of admiration, Regina. Everything you've been through, everything that son of a bitch has made to you… well, I'm not sure I would be able to get through it, If I were you. I hear everyday on the news of women who kill themselves because they're tired of the way their husbands treat them; or husbands who kill their wives because it's tuesday or because their favorite show is not on when they want to watch it. You're an incredibly strong person. A woman who, in a morning, has taught me more things than life has done in forty years. You, Regina Mills, needed a hero, so that's what you became. Your own hero. And everytime I look at those damn scars on your skin, I make sure that I remember that. That I remember who's standing right in front of me. And I shudder." he had his blue eyes buried deep in hers as he pronounced those words and Regina couldn't help but let a tear ran down her cheek. That man was simply amazing, he was all she had ever wanted from life. And yes, she was sorry for snapping at him as if he was a little boy, but she was also tired of having every single good moment of her life ruined by Victor's memories.  
>Even when that monster wasn't there, he was still able to ruin her life. She was simply tired.<p>

"I'm sorry I snapped at you." she murmured, biting the inside of her cheek. There she was, the innocent little girl that Robin loved to see. He gave her the sweetest of smiles as he put a hand on hers:  
>"it's okay. You made a delicious pasta, I can forgive you."<p>

He saw her smiling again after what seemed to have been a lifetime.

* * *

><p>After they had lunch and washed the dishes together -Robin washed and Regina put them back in the cupboard- like a real couple, Robin invited her to sit next to him on the couch and turned on the tv. There was nothing particularly interesting on at that time of the afternoon and he knew that, but he decided to take a look anyway.<p>

"oh, yes this! let's watch this, this show is fantastic, the main character is such a badass!" Regina exclaimed as she read _Major Crimes _among the infos of the program. She suddenly realized how terribly rude she had been to interrupt his activity and she immediately blushed: "I mean… If you don't intend to watch something else…"

He shook his head with the most beautiful smile she had ever seen and handed her the remote control.

Regina wasn't used to that. Usually, the tv was one of Victor's exclusivities, since he stayed in front of it twelve hours a day. She hadn't watched her favorite programs in three years and, when she tried to sit next to him and kindly asked him to watch something they both liked, he literally kicked her off the couch, forcing her to stand up.

She shook her head to what was now just a bad memory and settled next to Robin, who, in the meantime, had taken a huge fleece blanket.

He laid down on the couch -as Victor used to do- but, unlike him, he opened his arms and invited her to lay next to him. Regina considered the whole situation: the couch wasn't that big, they would have ended up on each other in less than a few seconds, she would have ended up falling asleep with the head on his chest and everything would have been so… relaxing? pleasing? Awkwardly amazing.

Fuck that, she didn't care anymore. After all, they had been in that position until dawn that morning.  
>"are you comfortable? do you need another blanket?"<p>

"No, I'm fine, thanks." and it was true, she was better than ever in his arms. They watched tv for a couple of minutes, until their eyes started to become heavy. Neither of them had slept that night, they deserved a bit of rest. It was just… Regina realized just then that they were about to sleep together for the very first time. Okay, maybe it wasn't like she had imagined it, but it was still a start.

"thank you Robin." she whispered closing her eyes, snuggling against his chest. "for everything."

"ssh, don't ever say that again." and he kissed her temple, but she was already fast asleep to notice.

* * *

><p>They were awakened a few hours later from the ring of Regina's phone. He was the first to get up and turn off the tv. He smiled at the sight he had right in front of his eyes: a beautiful, <em>very <em>beautiful woman peacefully sleeping in his arms. Right then, he wished that moment could last forever, for the eternity. He wanted to spend the eternity with Regina Mills.

"hey, sleeping beauty" he whispered, shaking her a little, sweetly. He wanted her to have a peaceful and serene awakening, for the first time in so long.

"mh" she moaned, stretching her legs. Robin smiled for the millionth time: she truly was the most beautiful and sweetest thing he had ever had the honor to see. "what's wrong? is it morning yet?"

"no, milady, it's not. And I'd also like to remind you that I'm your chief and I'll be forced to fire you if you'll take another day off, Miss Mills." he giggled softly; a sound that Regina heard directly in her ear, feeling a shiver run down her whole body.

"mmh, and I'd like to remind _you,_ chief, that you took the day off too today." almost unconsciously, she hugged him tighter, completely ignoring the telephone that was still ringing.

"hey! it wasn't my fault and… I can! I'm the boss!" they laughed again, together, then Regina finally opened her wonderful brown eyes. They found themselves enchanted in a long, intense look that seemed to last forever. They were so close, their lips almost touching but they didn't notice, they were so concentrated in each other… they were about to…

"the phone." he whispered, shaking his head. Regina couldn't help but feel a little disappointed: maybe he didn't want to kiss her? It had to be the reason why he kept on finding every excuse when they were that close. Maybe he found her horrible.

_No one could ever find you attractive. _Victor's voice resounded in her head like a sick melody and she barely managed to hold back a tear.

"yeah… right." she immediately got up, interrupting whichever contact with him as quickly as she could. Robin wanted to say something, or maybe just damn himself for what he had just done, for being such an idiot; he opened his mouth but nothing came out.

He patiently waited for Regina to finish her conversation, observing the way she nervously bit her lower lip as she held the phone tight in her hands, making her knuckles as white as pearls:  
>"thank you so much." she concluded and hung up.<p>

She brought her eyes back to Robin and gave him a half smile:  
>"they… they took Victor away. He's in prison. It's over." her smile grew wider as she saw Robin reacting immediately; he jumped off the couch and wrapped his arms tightly around her in a tender but still passionate embrace.<p>

"it's over, I did it!"

"yes, you're the strongest person I know, Regina." a tear ran down both of their faces but Robin managed to wipe it away before she could notice it.

"I never thought I'd be able to…"

"but still, you did it. You know why? because you're a warrior." it was time for him to wipe away _her _tears, and so he did; his thumb caressed every inch of her cheeks, from her eyes to her jaw, then he placed a kiss on her temple. It was their gesture, the thing able to make them feel closer and satisfied, almost like a kiss.

"thank you Robin, thank you again."

"ssh, come here." he pulled her in another embrace, but this time she allowed herself to cry on his chest, silently, without even realizing.

"they told me that I can come back home whenever I please, so, if it's not a problem for you…"  
>"we'll leave whenever you desire. Just say a word and I'll jump on my car." he smiled, but he truly meant every word. They stayed like that for a while, then Robin started to rock her sweetly, as if they were dancing with no music playing. A sweet melody.<p>

"I'm proud of you." and that surprised Regina Mills like a few other things in her life managed to do. Never, not even her parents, had ever told her something like that.

But that man she had known for so little, who she already knew she couldn't leave without; he had just done it. He had said that as if it was necessary for her to know. And he truly meant that, she could tell that by the tone of his voice.

She asked him if it was a problem for him to go immediately but he shook his head gently. They got in his car, both with a huge smile printed on their faces as he turned on the radio.

For the firs time in forever, she wanted to listen to happy music again:  
>"yesss! this one, this one!" she exclaimed happily, throwing her hands in the air: <em>"my ex man brought his new girlfriend she's like oh my god! I'm just gonna shake; and to the fella over there with the hella good hair" <em>she looked at Robin, making sure he was lookig at her too "_won't you come on over baby?" _ she was acting playfully at first but suddenly her tone and her look turned sexy; as sexy as she had never felt before "_we can shake, shake, shake." _ and she concluded with a wink as the chorus exploded one more time.  
>Robin felt a sudden need of taking a long, deep breath of fresh air as he realized he was blushing uncontrollably. My God, that woman; even when she was playing, she managed to tease him, as if it all came naturally to her, to be that desirable. As if she was born to do that.<p>

_My God. _

He pushed his foot on the accelerator, hoping that, that way, they would take less to arrive. He just needed to stop wanting her for a couple of seconds; stop desiring her body, the scent of her hair invading his nostrils, the smoothness of her skin under his fingertips and her mouth… God, her mouth.

_Christ, mate, get a grip!_

He parked in front of her house and gave her a smile as he watched her getting off his car, after she had thanked him for the millionth time. She walked to the door with her bag in her hand and her eyes stuck on the ground, until he saw her pulling the keys out of her purse.

Robin bit his tongue, looking straight in front of him, on the road.

He had to let her go, at least for then. She had to come back to her world, she had to start over and, with him by her side, she wouldn't be able to walk alone. He needed to stay away from her for a couple of days, then… then he had no idea.  
>She needed space, she needed <em>time.<em> Of course she couldn't jump in another relationship after an abusive one; but he was going to wait, he was more than sure about that. He was going to wait for that woman all the time she needed.

He brought his eyes back on her, this time with a sincere and more serene smile. A smile that dropped immediately as he saw her falling on her knees, in front of the open door, in tears.

"what the hell…" he jumped off his car and ran to her as quickly as he could: "Regina!"

"I can't. I can't do that, Robin…" he joined her on his knees, wrapping his arms around her body one more time, holding her tight against his chest.  
>"he's still here, he's everywhere, he's inside my head… I can't do that!"<p>

"ssh, ssh, it's okay now, I'm here."

"I don't want to stay here, I don't want to live in this house anymore, please. Wherever I look… he's there." she was so fragile, he was even scared to touch her. But still, he want to cuddle her, caress her face until every single tear turned into a beautiful smile. He needed her to smile again, to laugh, to sing as she was doing before in his car.

"I have an idea, wanna hear it?" he smiled and she nodded "but before, you have to wipe away those tears, okay? as your chief, I'm ordering you to get rid of them." he tried to make her laugh and, fortunately, he manage to make her smile, at least.

Regina couldn't help but thank God one more time for that amazing angel she had by her side. Without him she would have been completely lost.

She quickly dried her tears but he, obviously, didn't let her do it all by herself: with the sleeve of his shirt he completed the job, then he smiled:  
>"why don't you take some of your things and you stay at my house for a bit?"<p>

Regina's heart started to beat crazily in her chest, as if she had suddenly started to run:  
>"Robin, I…"<p>

"in the meantime you could sell this house and, when you'll have the money, you'll buy a new one and then you'll leave. No hurry, really. It's not a problem." he wanted to hide that, but his heart was racing too, hoping with every inch of its being that she could simply say yes.

"I don't want to give you any kind of problem with your job, too…"  
>"you won't. we won't tell anyone and, if they see us together, we'll just tell them the truth. Regina, we have nothing to hide; what we do is perfectly legal and we're not hurting anyone."<p>

Again, she rested her head on his abs, inhaling his scent. Yeah, maybe it was the right thing to do, maybe it was really the perfect way to start over again: sell the house that had always been a prison for her, tortures included.  
>She would have lived with Robin for a bit. As friends, obviously. And when she'd have found a buyer for her house, she would have left. Simple as that, it could work. It was totally innocent.<p>

They were going to be _just friends._

_"okay."_

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><p><strong>and yes, I'm going to make you ache for a kiss!<br>Thanks for reading and please please please REVIEW! **


	6. Chapter 6

**hey guys! happy valentine's day! :)**

**first of all I want to thank you all for the wonderful reviews that you leave me every time: thank you, thank you, thank you! they really warm my heart. I also truly appreciate all the follows and favs and, most of all, your patience in reading my story because I understand that my english isn't perfect, as it's not my first language, so yep. I'm still glad you guys enjoy it, so thank you.**

**sorry if this chapter is a bit shorter than the others, but I'm really trying _not _to give everything away too soon.  
>enjoy!<strong>

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><p>"please, can you go in and grab my things? I… I can't." she murmured embarrassed, finding herself staring at the floor one more time. They were still there, in front of that house that had always terrorized her, the door was opened and none of them had the courage to get in.<p>

"Regina, I've never been in your house, I wouldn't even know where to look for your stuff, so… why don't you take a leap of courage and try to come in? You've been through a lot, you can do this too." he whispered sweetly, caressing her arm up and down, slowly.

"I-I…" she shook her head slightly.

"I'll come with you. I'll be right by your side, I promise, I won't let anything bad happen to you." he took her chin between two of his fingers and lifted her head up, so that he could bury his ocean blue eyes in her coffee dark ones. He could read fear in them, pure and simple; strong enough to make him shudder, but he was careful not to show any emotion.

Regina nodded, even if he knew perfectly how still uncertain she actually was. She closed her hands around his arm tightly and, together, they moved their first steps into her house.

The couch, where Victor used to sleep and eat all day in front of the tv, was a complete disaster: drinks all over the floor, crumbs everywhere; the kitchen was exactly the way she had left it the morning before -a complete chaos- on the right, the door of the bathroom, where she had cried most of her tears, where she had had most of her downfalls, was opened. And over there, there it was the bedroom. Where it _all _had happened.

Without realizing, she tightened the grip around his arm, while numerous shivers ran down her whole body. She couldn't do that, she couldn't revive it. Not even after twenty-four hours, she wasn't strong enough.

"hey… I'm here." he whispered as if he had read in her mind. He pressed his forehead against hers for a moment, as if he wanted to give her more assurance, as if he wanted to make her understand once more that he was there to protect her.

They walked into the bedroom and Regina couldn't help but stop at staring at the bed: it was in the same exact conditions in which, the night before, Victor had left it. The pillow in which she had suffocated her sighs, the dirty sheets… they were still there, and so was he. In her head, he was still there. She felt as if he was going to appear behind her back to take her and throw her on that bed once again, to abuse her body while he insulted and beat her up for talking to Robin, for going to the police and sending him to jail, for ruining his whole life in a couple of hours.

_Stupid bitch, I'll kill you._

"Robin" she called him as she felt his arms leaving her.

"yes?"

"please, hold me." she was about to burst into tears again and, in that moment, she reminded him of that hurt and frightened angel that he had seen the night before, when she had begged him to take her away from that nightmare. Without hesitating, he closed his arms around her again in a warm embrace from which Regina would never part.

"I know it's hard, but you have to think that soon all of this will be over. For good. Tomorrow I'll call a realtor to take care of this house and sell it as quickly as they could. I won't let you revive all the horrible things that maniac has made you feel anymore." Robin was using a calm tone, but the anger in his voice was palpable. He would have done everything just to punch that son of a bitch until he bled; even though he perfectly knew that it wasn't going to be enough. Not even killing him would have been enough. Nothing could ever erase the horrible things he had made to Regina. To _his _Regina.

She nodded, shaking those light dark curls he was so damn in love with, the curls he was going to find, since that day, every time he woke up, every morning, every night.

"where can I find a suitcase to put your stuff in?" he asked, giving her one of his sweetest smiles. Regina indicated some point under the bed and he nodded. She also told him where he could find all of her money, so he took them, as she asked. He wanted to take Victor's too but Regina refused at first, she didn't want anything from him, let alone his money; but then Robin explained that she didn't have to use it for her, but to get rid of that house once and for all, of the memory of him forever. And there she agreed.

She guided him in every movement, told him which drawers to open to find her clothes -she absolutely refused to touch anything, she was terrified- and which ones he had to take, her shoes, her… underwear.

"m-maybe you should…"

"Robin, we're friends. And I'm sure you know what a woman normally wears under her clothes." she couldn't help but smile at her own joke, despite the tragedy of the whole situation.

He nodded, although Regina could say he was quite embarrassed as he opened the drawer and found himself in front of dozens of bras and panties. Regina thought, in all honesty, that it was going to be less awkward, but she was wrong: he suggested him to take everything, to make it easier for both.

"here it is, the essential. I'll send someone tomorrow morning to take the rest of your stuff."

"thank you so much, Robin." she smiled "oh wait! my folder!" Robin looked under the table she was pointing to and saw the folder she was used to bring with her everyday at work. "there are some tests I still have to check. I had to do it for today, but…" she smiled shyly, shrugging, realizing that it was the very first time she talked about her job to someone actually interested in listening to her.

"you didn't, Miss Mills?" he giggled, joking.

"is it my boss asking or my friend Robin?" they laughed together, then he took the folder as she asked and handed it to her. Now they really had everything. They were ready to start a new chapter: together.

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><p>"I emptied some drawers for your clothes." he told her as he walked out of the bedroom. Regina was waiting for him in his living room: being alone in a bedroom with him once in a day was enough.<br>"thank you, Robin. Thank you so much."

"hey, I don't want you to thank me anymore, okay?" he took her face in his big, warm hands, making her smile and blush like an idiot.

"okay." she nodded imperceptibly. They smiled to each other one last time, then he left her to get into the kitchen:  
>"so, what do you want for dinner?" he asked but she wasn't listening. She had walked into the bedroom to arrange her stuff in the drawers Robin had given her but she stood still in front of the room, too concentrated in something she shouldn't even have looked at: the bed. She touched the blankets slightly, with the tip of her fingers, while her mind got lost in a thousand thoughts.<p>

She closed her eyes and breathed his scent in. It was everywhere, so good, so sweet, so different from Victor's; it filled her soul, it penetrated her senses. She wanted more, God, she wanted to roll herself in that bed with him, get lost with him in that magic. Body against body, skin against skin, lips against lips.

It was there that Regina Mills realized that she wanted Robin Locksley. She wanted him for real, she truly meant every word; but she didn't want just physical pleasure, she wanted to make love to him. Make love again after so long -if she had _ever_ actually made love to someone.

She wanted to feel him close to her, against her, _inside _of her.

"are you alright?" his voice arrived to her like a slight whisper, but it had still been able to surprise her.

She turned to face him and smiled:  
>"yes, I was just… making myself at home." she couldn't help but blush, as if Robin had literally seen the scenario that she had created in her mind not even a second before.<p>

"you know, I was thinking" he whispered, walking closer and closer to her, with a beautiful smile on his lips. Regina swallowed hard and felt her stomach turning upside down, but it wasn't unpleasant. In fact, she felt the butterflies. _Shit. _They were together, in a bedroom, alone. Once again. And he was so close, so goddamn close…

"w-what?"

"I don't want to cook so…" he took a lock of her hair and rolled it around two of his fingers. Regina's heart started to pound in her chest; _oh my…_ "maybe we could go out." the distance between their lips was definitely too short, both of their eyes were stuck on each other's mouth and they couldn't stop dreaming. They couldn't stop _hoping. _

"yes, we could."

They closed their eyes, both so sure they were about to taste the most desired kiss of their lives, the most wanted, the most passionate. But they were, once again, wrong: Robin's phone started to ring and they parted almost immediately, as if someone had woken them up from a wonderful dream.

_Damn it. _For a moment, Robin thought he had said it out loud, then he understood -thanks god- he hadn't.

He ran into the living room, leaving her there, speechless, without an explanation. She was tired of that situation; it was just like being one step away from the sky, almost about to touch it, then falling from the high, right on the ground.

"sorry, it was Amanda." his assistant, of course. "she just wanted to know if I'm going to work tomorrow." the smile he had on his lips was shy, almost embarrassed. It wasn't the bright and bold smirk he usually had, maybe it was for the millionth failed kiss.

"and you are?" she asked, bringing her eyes back into his.

"absolutely. And you're coming with me."

That reaction took her in surprise; an ordinary man would have proposed her to take some time to rest, especially after all she had been through, but not him. He, despite the extreme sense of protection he felt for that woman, didn't. She asked herself why but he anticipated her thoughts:

"Regina, today you told me that you don't want to be treated as a victim anymore. You're right, and that's exactly what I'm going to do; you have to get out, to go to work, to live your life as you think it's best for you. Because, starting from today, you'll start living again, Regina Mills, I promise." again that proud and bright smile that, this time, Regina promptly returned.

Oh, that man was anything but ordinary.

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><p>They had gone out for dinner, but it had been nothing like the classy and romantic dinners that you see in the movies; absolutely. Regina had worn a pair of ripped skinny jeans and one of Robin's sweatshirt -she had practically stolen it from his closet and, when Robin noticed, he laughed his soul out- that was literally twice her size. She looked much younger than her age, if he didn't know any better he'd have said that she was no more than twenty-five. She was glowing. The thought of going out for dinner with him amused her. It didn't excite her, it didn't make her heart beat like a teenager's going out on her first date; it <em>amused <em>her.

And so it happened: they found themselves eating Buffalo chicken wings in a remote mexican restaurant. They were laughing like idiots, drinking the cheapest beer in the whole country; they had their hands dipped in sauces and they played like children, stealing each other's food from their plates. Everyone else in the restaurant was glaring at them but they didn't care; they only saw each other.

"my god, it was the coolest night of my life! I can't believe I'm actually 37, really!" she exclaimed as they arrived back home. She was so drunk she didn't even realize how actually happy she was to come back _home _with someone she trusted. With someone she _loved_.

"yeah, but now we have to sleep, it's late… we have to work tomorrow." when he said so, with his already half closed eyes and a sleepy voice, he didn't notice the way Regina had wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close.  
>"mmh, really? do we… <em>have <em>to work, chief?"

"absolutely." his hands unconsciously started to wander all over her back, but as the real gentleman that he truly was, he didn't go too far. He perfectly knew his limits, even when he was half drunk. God, he was really too much…

"I'm not sleepy, daddy." she whispered in his ear before kissing his neck and letting herself go, resting her head on his shoulder. His skin burned at the contact with her lips, as it was the very first time; cause yes, he was used to kiss her temple, her cheek, her nose, but she had never, ever kissed him. A shiver ran through his whole body, from the top of his head to his feet, making him feel so alive, so good. Despite the fact that he was trying really hard not to respond, his body couldn't help but react to the contacts and, within seconds, Regina realized that she was feeling _him_ against her.

"Regina…"

"take me to bed." she whispered kissing his earlobe, then she trapped it between her teeth and bit it, then sucked, then bit it again, until what she was feeling against her became completely hard. _Shit, shit, shit. _He heard her giggling and he thought he was about to get crazy; he kept on telling himself that Regina didn't really want that, that she was drunk and she was loosing control and he shouldn't have.

"please" she moaned "take me to bed."

And take her to bed he did; he lifted her up in his arms as if she was his bride, making her laugh, even if that wasn't exactly what she was hoping for. He walked her into his bedroom and, when he put her down on the mattress and started to tuck her in, she stopped him:

"Robin, I can't sleep in these clothes! I smell like fried chicken." she smiled, but it wasn't a playful smile. She arched one of her perfect eyebrows as she saw him blushing:

"I-I…"

"undress me." she whispered, making his stomach vibrate "please."

"Regina, I can't."

"you can. You _want _to. Please, do it."

He couldn't leave her like that, he couldn't and perhaps a huge part of him didn't want to. He took the ends of the sweatshirt and slowly started to take it off, savoring every moment, every inch he discovered. Underneath she had -fortunately or unfortunately, he couldn't decide- a white tank top, not too transparent, that hinted the color of her bra.

From one side, he was happy that he wasn't going to see her half naked that night: he wanted to keep that sensation for when it was all true, wanted by both, for real.

He removed her shoes and socks, then he took a deep breath and stared at her jeans. God, he really didn't want to do that. He started to unzip them slowly, feeling his cheeks burning more and more each second as he pulled them down until the only thing that covered her were her panties. He was hoping with every inch of his being that they weren't transparent and, luckily for both, they weren't; they were dark, just like the dark of that room, just like Regina's eyes.

"are you alright?" he whispered, as if he had remembered only then who was laying right under his body. She smiled and nodded, even though she couldn't stop hoping for him to continue the way _she _wanted.  
>He didn't, but she was expecting it.<p>

"come on, get under the blankets Miss Mills." he said happily. She obeyed but, as she felt the warmth of his body slowly leaving her, she closed her fingers around his arm:  
>"please, stay. I want to sleep in your arms one more time." she would have never, <em>ever,<em> said that if she was sober, she wouldn't have had the courage and he knew that well enough. But the fact that she was drunk didn't make it less true, so he smiled. He didn't say anything, he simply got under the blankets next to her and pulled his body against him, wrapping his arms around her chest in a soft, warm, protective hug.  
>And there they fell asleep, with the sincerest smile printed on their lips.<p>

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><p><strong>please please please REVIEW!<strong>

**xx ella**


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